'Superbad' Director Greg Mottola Locks His Next Gig

There is an old saying in Hollywood about how in many cases, overnight success actually took a heck of a lot longer than overnight. Take director Greg Mottola for example. His most recent film, the mega-hit and super-funny Superbad, ended an almost ten-year dry spell for the filmmaker, whose last feature film was The Day Trippers in 1996. During the intervening years, Mottola worked as a director in TV on shows such as Undeclared and Arrested Development, but that next feature directing gig seemed to elude him.

Fortunately, as it sometimes does, fortune smiled on the director in the form of a phone call from Judd Apatow and the offer to direct Superbad -- and that film's success is sure to lead to more work for Mottola. In fact, it already has. According to Variety, Mottola, coming off the impressive opening weekend for Superbad, has already set up his next directing gig -- the romantic comedy Adventureland, which he also wrote.

Adventureland is set in the summer of 1987, and tells the story of a recent college grad who, instead of going on his dream vacation to Europe, is stuck in a minimum-wage job at an amusement park for the summer. Convinced he's not going to have any fun, he instead ends up making new friends, finding love and gaining valuable life experience. Given Mottola's track record, I'm sure the script and the subsequent movie will be much funnier than that sounds. Casting is now underway for the film, which is expected to begin shooting later this year.